Jihad and Tawhid threatens diplomat executions

A Source close to the Jihad and Tawhid in West Africa on Friday declared: "The movement has threatened to execute the Algerian consul Boualem Sais and his three assistants, if Algeria did not respond to the movement demands, which were announced few months ago. This was confirmed by the movement's statement on a Mauritania news site, published Saturday." The same source noted that the movement gave the Algerian government five days before implementing its threat of executing Algerian detainees arrested months ago in the city of Gao (northern Mali) if Algeria didn’t respond to their demands, represented in a ransom of 15 million euros in addition to releasing three elements of al-Qaeda organization arrested by the Algerian army last week." Quoting an official in the movement, Abu Walid Sahrawi said: "We have offered the Algerian government to swap our brothers who were arrested by the Algerian army near the city of Ghardaia in southern Algeria with one of the hostages arrested by the Tawhid and Jihad movement in West Africa, but the Algerian government rejected the offer, therefore Algeria will bear all the consequences this rejection." "We will deal with the Algerian government firmly and we will defend our brothers of Mujahideen until the fall of the military regime in Algeria." The movement statement on the website said that: "The three arrested Mujahideen includes Judiciary Committee Chairman of al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, Abdel Rahman Abu Ishaq." Jihad and Tawhid movement is considered a strategic alliance for al-Qaeda in West Africa. Mokhtar Belmokhtar is one of the leaders of al-Qaeda in the deserted based Islamic countries as he is one of the founders of the movement that kidnapped Algerian diplomats working at Gao consulate (northern Mali) last April this year and is awaiting the opportunity to bargain with the Algerian government.